It’s Time for a Parent’s Bill of Rights | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's Note: This post appears here courtesy of the John Locke Foundation. The author of this post is Kelly Mann.

    As displayed across the country parents are feeling unheard, that their choices within schools are infringed upon and most importantly that students' basic educational needs are not met. Do a quick internet search on school board meetings and you will get pages back full of upset, unheard parents. Babylon Bee satirically posted an article suggesting Michigan football stadium start hosting the local school board meetings to accommodate angry parents.

    The importance of parental choice, from medical decisions to virtue and values formation, in the face of the lack of transparency in school districts across the country, has mobilized parents in unprecedented ways.

    In many North Carolina counties, parents are not allowed back into buildings. Agenda-driven, controversial curriculums have been implemented in social studies. Health and science curriculums are scheduled be revised this year. In first day of class introductions students are asked to identify themselves as vaccinated or unvaccinated.

    That education bureaucrats have chosen to focus on divisive issues while an entire generation of students aren't reaching proficiency in the essential areas of math and reading is abhorrent. It shows an indifference toward our children's futures. They debate preferred pronouns, while our children don't even know how to construct a proper sentence. North Carolina students are in a crisis, and parents are labeled domestic terrorists for sharing their outrage at school board meetings.

    Parents have a voice, and it needs to be heard. Parents have every right to be involved in the classroom. I eagerly look forward to collaborating on a Parent's Bill of Rights that will include expectations for North Carolina public schools. Whatever the final version of the Parent's Bill of Rights looks like, it must include:

1. Education funds must follow students, not systems.
2. Parents have the right to engage in the selection and approval of academic standards.
3. Parents have the right to access educational materials, resources, and syllabi taught to their children in the classroom.
4. Parents have the right to make medical care decisions on behalf of their children.
5. Parents will receive timely notification of information related to the health, well-being, and education of their children.
6. In-person education is a right that should always be available as a choice.
7. Parents have the right to transparent access to school and school district academic performance.
8. Parents have the right to access detailed and up-to-date district financial records.
9. Parents have the right to opt their children out of the classroom for delivery of content listed in the syllabus with which they disagree.
10. Parents have the right to know of threats to their child's safety (individually or school-wide).